Bay St. Louis in slow recovery
The area around Bay St. Louis is recovering slowly. There were many more
businesses open now than in December. Many of the homes that can't be
repaired have been demo-ed and the debris has been removed. Debris still
remains along the curb on many streets and their are homes that haven't
been mucked yet. There are a very few new homes being built and people are
slowly moving into repaired homes.
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posted by UMVIM at 6:42 PM
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We had the privilege of doing the final trim work for an elderly women.
She probably moved in yesterday.
We visited homes where we worked last fall. Both are still being repaired while the owners live partially in their home and partially in their FEMA mansion.
We sanded sheetrock in one home that might be typical of what is happening along the coast. A late 30's couple with four children are overflowing from their FEMA mansion and into their gutted home. The washer and dryer
are in use in the home, the computer and TV are sitting on tables in the living room and the entrance is lined with racks storing clothes. There just isn't enough room in the trailer for people to live. Of course, being
partially in the home complicates the restoration efforts. The husband returned from a tour in Iraq on the day we worked on their home.
There is still so much to do and so few volunteers. UMCOR has nearly completed building a trailer complex on the property where Gulfside Assembly (a scaled down Epworth by the Sea operated by the African American UM churches during the segregation era) that will host future UMCOR teams in the Bay St. Louis/ Waveland area. This will allow Main Street UMC to return to "normal".
I returned with an even greater appreciation of how important it is for each of us to remind people how greatly our brothers and sisters along the coast need our help. Everyone seems to have forgotten the compassion they
felt last Labor Day but people are still suffering. Non-believers and
believers testify that they would be lost without the help of Christian volunteers.
from a recent volunteer
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